Streetwise: Main Street building being readied for renovation

Operative Wendy gets the gold star for the week for noticing a lot of activity going on in and around the Kitz Printing building at 531 N. Main St. What's happening there is a large-scale cleanup of the building as new owners prepare it for a major renovation.

The information technology company DealerFire intends to renovate the building and make it their new headquarters this year. Word is the renovation and relocation will be made all the more necessary as DealerFire expands its workforce this year and beyond.

We at Streetwise have a feeling we'll be updating you, dear reader, on this project well into the summer. But on first blush, this will be good for a number of reasons.

First, the building's use as an office building, likely with retail on the first floor, will add property value to the Downtown Oshkosh Business Improvement District, which funds itself through an additional property tax. Second, the DealerFire expansion will mean more people working downtown, eating downtown and shopping downtown. And third, DealerFire will add more of the all-important high-tech, family-supporting jobs that will help the community diversify its economic base moving forward.

? Future engineers, architects and builders of Oshkosh, the Winnebago Home Builders Association, Fox Valley Technical College, Habitat for Humanity and other groups have got your back. The Home Builders Association is set to kick off its Career Explorer Program for high school students at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Fox Valley Technical College's Spanbauer Center, 3601 Oregon St. The program costs $40, is limited to 24 students, involves hands-on exposure to a variety of jobs in the housing industry and meets twice a month. If you want to find out more about the program or want an application, call Deb at (920) 235-2962 or e-mail her at deb@whba.net.

? Normally, media companies celebrate the first baby of the new year, but we here at Streetwise want to celebrate the first new business of the year, one that literally kicked into high gear mere minutes after 2014 started. Hitch is a Web-based ride service that's the brainchild of local entrepreneurs Robby Schroeder, Dan Riegelman, Cory Santorello and Brad Spanbauer. Via Twitter or a Google app they developed, Hitch has enlisted drivers to give rides at the rate of $5 per five-minute increment. New Year's Eve was a test-run, but their Web site, www.ridewithhitch.com, leads Streetwise to believe they'll be operating on weekends and major events, like AirVenture, before you know it.

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Streetwise: Main Street building being readied for renovation

Operative Wendy gets the gold star for the week for noticing a lot of activity going on in and around the Kitz Printing building at 531 N. Main St. What's happening there is a large-scale cleanup of

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